PlayTV saved files no longer transferable

By Robert Purchese Published 13 August, 2008

Sony: HD signals not recordable at launch.

Sony has told Eurogamer that PlayTV will not allow saved video files be transferred to PSP, PC or Memory Stick.

Instead, the PS3 TV recorder will only be able to stream live or recorded content to your PSP using Remote Play functionality.

Sony Cambridge, the studio making the software for PlayTV, had told us there was no copy protection or time restrictions on the standard format recordings, which could be moved freely onto all manner of storage devices.

No reason for the change of heart was given.

We were also told that PlayTV will not record HD signals at launch, and that Sony is working on making this feature possible in the future.

PlayTV will launch on 19th September for GBP 69.99.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (100) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • DaveBassant #1 4 years ago

    but remote play sucks! /crys into keyboard

  • Hulio Julio #2 4 years ago

    How can Play TV receive HD signals? I thought it was DVB?!

  • tjlazr #3 4 years ago

    like milk, this was a poor choice.

  • Greebo #4 4 years ago


    Feck.

  • booner #5 4 years ago

    The main reason for me buying a PS3 has just gone out the window.

    That's like saying saying the next Xbox will have free online gaming.... then putting it back a few months, then just before it's hyped release..stating that there will be no online gaming at all.

  • dazrichards #6 4 years ago

    Oh brilliant. So, if you are runnnig low on hard disk space you can't transfer anything to burn to disk? Next, they will say that you can only record the Eastenders omnibus

  • gallow #7 4 years ago

    That was the single reason I would have been interested in PlayTV. Well done Sony you have saved me some money.

  • DonnieDarko333 #8 4 years ago

    Oh thats...erm..saved me £70 then...

  • nbnz #9 4 years ago

    Well there goes my purchase.

  • rotmm #10 4 years ago

    @Hulio, "How can Play TV receive HD signals?"

    At some unspecified point in the (hopefully near) future, freeview will have some HD channels.

  • X201 #11 4 years ago

    I can't be bothered to explain the Freeveiw HD (DVB-T & DVB-T2) situation yet again.
    Look for my other posts on it.

  • JonFE #12 4 years ago

    I would assume that allowing recorded files to be transferred to a PC/DVD burner would open all kinds of cans of worms between SCEE and the movie/TV industry over lost revenue or something...

  • Whatsfor #13 4 years ago

    Ouch!

    "Here's £1,000,000 for you :)"

    "Oh by the way, its Monopoly money..."

  • the_dudefather #14 4 years ago

    no longer interested

  • tonynibbles #15 4 years ago

    /biscuit falls in to tea

    FAIL GUYS!

  • skillian #16 4 years ago

    DRM sux.

  • illusiondance #17 4 years ago

    "its mayors money, you can use it anywhere..."

  • Mattattattatt #18 4 years ago

    I bet their legal department got scared of a test case like the (failed) one against them when they brought out the Betamax VCR in the 80s. If you read up on that it goes into stuff not deliberately there to infringe and mainly having non-infringing uses... the law with copying stuff for personal use is a bit cloudy so maybe the copying and transferring feature in isolation was a bit risky to keep in.

    Which is a great shame and some other PVRs let you do it - just not straight out to a nice neat Mpeg afaik

  • lewiep #19 4 years ago

    I was considering recommending a PS3 and this to my parents as a media centre solution. Now I am not.

  • Jonsend #20 4 years ago

    Guess I won't be buying it then.

  • dazrichards #21 4 years ago

    Meanwhile, I will use my DVD recorder to record from the built-in freeview tuner before transferring them to DVD-RW disks which can therefore be easily copied using a PC. I don't understand why Sony is doing this when there isn't any copy protection elsewhere (i.e. in rival products)

  • myiagros #22 4 years ago

    order canceled, oh well.

    If i can't copy the data off my machine and store it remotely (on a NAS drive) then this is a no buy for me.

    I even had it ordered from when it was £60 on amazon months ago.

  • betahoven #23 4 years ago

    Post deleted at 09:36:16 17-12-2011

  • mcbi4kh2 #24 4 years ago

    To put this as eloquently as I can; that is fucking shit.

    One more sale gone.

  • soundtrack #25 4 years ago

    I take it the same goes for external HDDs? I almost regret having bothered to buy a 320gb one now, will have to find summat else to fill it with. Balderdash! And poppycock!

  • Bumhug360 #26 4 years ago

    "I don't understand why Sony is doing this when there isn't any copy protection elsewhere (i.e. in rival products)"

    Well most rival companies dont have a division that makes sack loads of cash from DVD sales of Movie and TV programs looking over their shoulder

  • NinjaWilliams #27 4 years ago

    UMD movies to PlayTV - wot a mess! lol...

  • dazrichards #28 4 years ago

    I think Sony should first stop companies from using mandatory installs for their games. Not doing so could destroy all the PS3's multi media capabilities because there wont be enough room on the hard drive to make any worthwhile

  • michaelius #29 4 years ago

    I'd say it should sold at 20 pounds price point now.

    Altrough probably once 1TB 2.5" get popular it will be more or less moot point if you can copy it or not.

  • seasidebaz #30 4 years ago

    I'm going to bring up the whole HD thing again, cos I was right but the other thread is too old...

    Viewers who want to watch the new channels will have to buy a new set-top box incorporating the superior MPEG-4 rather than MPEG-2 compression technology. MPEG-4 is twice as efficient as the MPEG-2 standard , while a new European transmission standard (DVB-T2) will increase capacity by 30%. taken from here

    The whole HD thing DOESN'T require a new box, it requires a new CODEC. And seeing as older freeview boxes have MPEG2 on a non-flashable chip, they can't be updated. PlayTV can, as can BT Vision.

    Sony messed up with this one.

  • berelain #31 4 years ago

    Ye gods. How dumb.

    You can buy a freeview box with built in 80GB HDD drive for less than £70, and guess what? You don't need a PS3 to use it.

    Numbnuts, Sony.

  • LeeroyJenkins #32 4 years ago

    This is a let down, but they are both things I do not need at the moment. I don't have a PSP (and never will), would not have copied files anyway..... and at the moment I do not have HD TV signals, and when I do, I imagine this feature would have been added/enabled.

  • Mattattattatt #33 4 years ago

    A bit of research later, this might be the reason... The part of the law that lets you tape telly is an exemption to normal copyright law called "time shifting" - so you can watch it at a more convenient time. This is only legal when done in your own home when made from the original television broadcast. When you transferred the file to something else, you could then be making a further copy of the time shifted, mpeg encoded recording, not the original broadcast, even though it's still arguably for personal use, and technically breaking the law.

    [link url=http://www.copyrightaware.co.uk/protectin gcreativity/letterofthelaw.asp
    ]http://ww w.copyrightaware.co.uk/protecti...[/link]

    (near the bottom)

    I'm sure lots of other set-ups let you do it though :(

  • gizmo #34 4 years ago

    LOSE!

  • JoeNut #35 4 years ago

    Wow way to screw up what was going to be a great feature.

  • BOFH_UK #36 4 years ago

    I was actually considering trading in my Wii for a PS3 based partially on Play TV allowing recordings to be transfered. It was perfect for me in that they could be easily archived to the media centre PC and used anywhere in the house. Taking it out has made Play TV utterly useless to me (especially as the largest hard drive in a PS3 is 80Gb leaving very little storage capacity for TV shows after games etc have taken their bite) and thus the PS3 purchase is now much less likely.

    Bravo Sony, Bravo...

  • Scimarad #37 4 years ago

    That really does remove a big part of PlayTV's appeal:-(

  • Law07 #38 4 years ago

    /facepalm

    WHY SONY WHY.

    I wasn't even interested in this, having Sky right under my PS3, but why do this?

  • Anhunedd #39 4 years ago

    At times like this, we need a picture of an aghast cat, going "!!WTF NO PS3 COPIEZ SUXORS!!!111"

    ++NoSale

    And I like Sony stuff.

  • dsmx #40 4 years ago

    Well done sony you have just made your playtv completely worthless and all those people who would of bought it are now just going to download of of torrent sites. Nice choice.

    Probably not sony's fault it's probably all the media companies complaining about how it will devalue their media.

  • Widge #41 4 years ago

    Well remote play would be lovely if we all had mobile wifi points to carry around with us.

  • neilka #42 4 years ago

    seasidebaz: PlayTV has a DVB-T tuner but terrestrial HD channels in the UK are going to be broadcast using DVB-T2 which needs different hardware, so PlayTV will not be able to receive them.

  • Kazzahdrane #43 4 years ago

    Ruh roh!

  • BlueHaze_Sean #44 4 years ago


    B*****, fell for it again

    Had my expectations raised only for them to be crushed so close to the finish line

    Sony - Please take course in expectation management

  • RESIDENT_nEVILe #45 4 years ago

    Sony are so annoyingly indescicive these days.
    Edited by 1 at 13/08/08 @ 18:42

  • White_Westie #46 4 years ago

    I Cant believe it!
    I've had this on preorder for ages (even at £99 price point at first).

    Now they say you cant move recordings to your media pc. I've just cancelled my preorder... well done sony, from my readings everyone is cancelling....

    Stop changing the goalposts....

  • superted #47 4 years ago

    no purchase for me now sadly... was looking forward to it as well

  • agparrot #48 4 years ago

    The whole thing just reminds me of the PS2.

    Don't get me wrong, I loved my PS2 and played many many games on it, but the console never realised the things it was supposed to be going to do, and I think herein lays part of the problem.

    Things that are integral to your console when it releases are great. You can be sure everybody has them, your developers can make your games around them, and the add-ons you release for your console later on can take advantage of them.

    The PS2 was going to be a 'media centre' - even before launch there was talk of the HDD revolutionising the living room, and its firewire and USB ports possibly even allowing it to have some of the features of a PC, and certainly allowing you to plug other media-related USB things into it.

    But the HDD never really came to Europe, and there was support neither from Sony nor Developers for so much as a simplistic word processor or set of printer drivers.

    I still had a great time playing games on it, but the promised 'network gaming' future of the PS2 also never really got off the ground in any way comparable to something like Live or to some extent PSN.

    A half-assed attempt at a PVR is not the same as a solid, thought-through approach to the media centre concept, and whilst I will indubitably one day enjoy playing games on my PS3-that-I-haven't-bought-yet, the date of that purchase is less immediate every time one of these 'sounds like the plans for the PS2' features is announced, butchered and eventually slopped onto the market with a fanfare akin to a wet fart.

    I suppose I am disappointed more than anything. The word 'potential' has carried over, as far as I am concerned, from the PS2 to the PS3, but so has the approach that never saw the PS2 realise its own potential, and I would really rather that it hadn't.

  • Tetragammatron #49 4 years ago

    Talk about overreacting.

  • rhinoxious #50 4 years ago

    Not a popular decision then.

    Media Center has always struggled in this country again teh Sky behemoth, PlayTV could have been the final nail in the coffin.

    MS must be most pleased.

  • jonbwfc #51 4 years ago

    Was buying one. Am no longer. Well done there Sony.

  • septimus #52 4 years ago

    There goes my reason for buying it.

  • X201 #53 4 years ago

    @ seasidebaz
    The MPEG thing has nothing to do with it.

    DVB-T2 is the transmission standard if the set top box can't decode the transmissions then the actual picture regardless of what it is encoded in is useless.

    Imagine it this way:
    You own a computer that can show images encoded in both MPEG 2 or MPEG 4.
    Every week I sent you a movie on a disc (sometimes MPEG 2 sometimes MPEG4)
    To make sure that the disc reaches you safely I place the disc inside a metal box that you have a key to.
    The key to the box has the serial number DVB-T
    When you receive the box you use the key to unlock it and watch the movie.

    After a while I decide to send you two discs per week
    To make room for the extra disc I use a different box
    The key to the new box has the serial number DVB-T2
    You haven't got a DVB-T2 key because the man that is making them says that they won't be ready until the end of 2009.
    I deliver the box to you but because you don't have a key you can't unlock the box and watch the movie.


    Do you understand what I'm getting at. The There are two things at work here MPEG AND DVB-T2.
    Some devices can be patched from MPEG 2 to MPEG 4.
    Tuners cannot be patched from DVB-T to DVB-T2 (except for very expensive ones that would more than double the price of PlayTV)

  • SpaceMidget75 Verified Senior Software Developer, Minerva Computer Services #54 4 years ago

    How about I have a dig at clearing up the HD thing!

    I've been picking up the Freeview HD channels since the World Cup with my DVB-T tuner in my PC. Why? Because my playback software was updated to decode the MPEG 4 signal.

    You CAN and WILL* be able to receive HD channels IF your DVB-T player allows you to upgrade the decoder to support MPEG4. That should be fine for things like PC cards (like mine) and probably the PS3 but not likely most Set top boxes.

    BUT...there is only space for 4 HD channels (Only BBC and C4 were broadcasting signals on DVB-T via my tuner. ITV & C5 had holding screens in HD.)

    When DVB-T2 becomes available this will increase capacity by 30%. However, THAT is a hardware change and will require new hardware for almost everyone.

    [link url=http://ww w.freeview.co.uk/help/faq/id105015
    ]http://ww w.freeview.co.uk/help/faq/id105...[/link]
    My TV software: http://ww w.nebula-electronics.com/news/h...

    *EDIT: That whole thing reads very cocky. My point was that HD is possible via DVB-T as I've had it running on my own set-up and doesn't technically require DVB-T2. However it is incredibly presumptuous of me to assume that any of the stations will actually broadcast via DVB-T when the time comes.

    EDIT: Spelling!! Arrrgh
    Edited by 3 at 13/08/08 @ 20:01

  • DFawkes #55 4 years ago

    So no people thinking "Fantastic, being able to save stuff elsewhere sounded like a pain!"? Like almost everyone else, that was the must-have feature for me. No more, I'll just get a PC dongle. Mainly so I can type dongle. Twice.

    Thanks for explaining that SpaceMidget, but I fear it'll be in vain and someone will pop up and tell you you're wrong. Not me, I believe what you say after having done my own reading up, as well as those great links you posted.

  • Furfoot #56 4 years ago

    lol this shit just got minidisc'd

  • X201 #57 4 years ago

    @SpaceMidget75

    " ... assume that any of the stations will actually broadcast via DVB-T when the time comes. "

    That is the nub of the matter.

    You've been able to get HD via DVB-T because the test transmissions (which include BBC HD) have been made using DVB-T
    In June OFCOM decided that DVB-T2 would be used for Freeview HD.

    Hence the confusion, DVB-T can pick up HD but it won't be doing so in the UK due to the use of DVB-T2.

  • peteb #58 4 years ago

    Same old Sony, promising the world and then....

    Er, not delivering it

  • Nabokov #59 4 years ago

    I don't understand why do you want to transfer anything to anywhere. Just watch it and delete. It's not like it's lost forever, if it's good they'll show it again next year, you can watch it then again.

  • Monsta #60 4 years ago

    lots of whinging her from the eurogamer crowd, and a normal i agree with nearly all of it.

    Unfortunately the world works like this

    Sony says something really cool about one of their produts

    People like us say that amazing, i really want one of those, everyone else (a much larger umber of people) never hear it

    Sony say that the really cool thing is not going to be any where as cool as it was

    People like us say "sony suck" i'm never going to buy anything sony, everyone else still has never heard about it

    Sony release substandard product

    People like us say "it's nowhere near as good as it shoudl have been", everyone else says "how cools is that, i didn;t know there was something that did that" (even though there has been a device that does that cheaper and better for ages

    Everybody buys one (so do the people like us)

  • Turambar #61 4 years ago

    It'll no doubt still be of interest to people who don't own other devices that they would copy the files to. I assume the vast majority of PVR owners watch their saved TV programs using the PVR and nothing else.

  • rawburger #62 4 years ago

    Can you not just take the ps3 hard drive out, connect to a PC, and rip the files out and then use 'certain software ', to re encode it, if you must have it.

    A lot of mucking about, but a possibility, yes/no.

  • crazyeighty8 #63 4 years ago

    The file transfer was never the big deal for me, although I am disapionted by the news. My confusion is What's the difference between PLayTV and "freesat"- The free to air HD service developed by the BBC/ITV and already available in the UK?.

  • X201 #64 4 years ago

    @crazyeighty8
    PlayTV will pick up normal Freeview (not HD) via a normal TV aerial
    Freesat will pick up both normal Freeveiw and the HD channels only it needs a satellite dish rather than an aerial
    Edited by 1 at 13/08/08 @ 22:30

  • crazyeighty8 #65 4 years ago

    Right it says it "will not record a HD signal" at launch. Will it be able to RECEIVE and DISPLAY a HD signal at launch?. I may keep my pre-order set it up and tune in to BBC HD if I get a picture it stays if not it going straight back.

  • crazyeighty8 #66 4 years ago

    FUCK IT then im getting freesat, already have standard sky and dish. I thought Sony ps3 was all about HD.

  • BeerBread #67 4 years ago

    Because....

    it's the same exact reason they promised Mandatory Managed Copy for Blu-ray and then pulled/banned it after HD DVD died.

    it's the same exact reason they put rootkits on CDs & said it didn't matter

    to Sony, customers are evil & not to be trusted. They are the giant media corporation, they control the electronics; & they don't want you to have freedom of choice. That simple.
    Edited by 1 at 13/08/08 @ 22:35

  • FirtyDucker #68 4 years ago

    Bastards!!!

  • seffyroff #69 4 years ago

    Put it back in the development cupboard and leave it there until Legal sort out the file transfer 'issue' and the collective broadcasting world get off their gold arses and mature the HD terrestrial system to a point where Sony don't have to guess data sizes.

  • kopykatt #70 4 years ago

    Talk about giving ammo to the fanboys.

    Bad decision Sony. I would only consider this if I could transfer to the PSP. Oh well, more money for other things.

  • Kyle #71 4 years ago

    Like many others this was one of the main reasons I was interested in PlayTV. Really not sure if I'll bother now.

  • Totoriko #72 4 years ago

    Fuck it then. DVD Recorders are less than 70 quid these days and they'll let me play games while they're recording.

  • Milk #73 4 years ago

    lol @ sony for removing the products USP just before launch.

    It all sounded too good to be true TBH.

  • Widge #74 4 years ago

    Ah, it doesn't seem like random idiocy, more like "we want to make money out of you, not give you stuff for free":

    <a href="http://www .goview.tv/vod/page/promoPage.do
    ">http://www .goview.tv/vod/page/promoPage.do
    </a>

    which, to be fair, is what anyone else would do... its just on paper it was sounding awesome for a bit. :(

    With the existence of this, no way they would allow anything transferable. Sky would just tell them to fook right off.
    Edited by 1 at 14/08/08 @ 07:35

  • saku_luk #75 4 years ago

    without transfering this thing is shait....I would consider buying it but not anymore lol...

  • bad09 #76 4 years ago

    bad idea Sony (again!), do they actually pay people to think of ways they can mess up potential?

    I already have Sky+ and saw this as pretty pointless TBH, but at the cheap price (now we know why it's cheaper than expected) i was part interested PURELY for the transfer to PSP feature. Potential customer lost, 3 cheers for the copyright obsessed Sony Corporation \o/

  • Cuke #77 4 years ago

    Me thinks they realised just how much freedom being so 'open' offered people and they paniced about all the copyright issues that may arrise in the future... I mean the tech involved must be there for the original announcement to be made so it feels like they've effectivly removed a few menu options at the last minute...

    It's very sad though, I thought it sounded great and was looking forward to using it along side my Sky+ box simply to record shows that I wanted to transfer to my PSP so I could watch them at lunch times or on the train or where ever....

    Can't see the point in getting one now... Well done Sony, tell everyone about a fantastic product then cripple it just before launch and hope no-one notices.

  • rufus_the_stunt_bum #78 4 years ago

    bugger... and only yesterday this was on my list to buy... not anymore, would have been better if I could transfer to psp... streaming is no good for me.

  • Widge #79 4 years ago

    Hello? Did you lot miss the link to the Sky TV service for the PSP? Its not so much being open thats the problem, its that it would directly hammer their relationship with Sky and that service.

    That is the way you're going to get transferable service to your PSP, by paying for it via Sky.
    Edited by 1 at 14/08/08 @ 08:55

  • bad09 #80 4 years ago

    It's so annoying they don't seem to get the partnership of the PSP and PS3 right (although remote play is cool).

    Not only this cool feature on PlayTV now lost, but imagine being able to burn a file of your own legally bought DVDs and Blu to PSP. If they did that my PS3 would have been snapped up long before it was, and I'm sure sales of both PS3 and PSP would go up.

    It's a real shame my PC (*cough* and Bittorrent *cough*) works better with my PSP than my PS3 when it comes to media and (like the loss of B/C - sorry had to get that dig in) a missed opportunity for a fantastic USP for the machine.

    Sometimes I wonder what these companies are thinking.....



  • JaffaBoy #81 4 years ago

    Sony, I dont get a WiFi connection on the train to work which was when I wanted to watch recorded programs I had copied to my PSP ... you remember the PSP eh? it's one of YOUR devices!

    So lloking forward to this, now, forget it Sony, you've just screwed your own market.

    Streaming does not work 100% of the time so most people would copy recordings to their PSP to watch.

    Ah well back to recording on HDD recorder, burn onto DVD-RW, take to PC and rip to psp mp4, slow but works.

  • bad09 #82 4 years ago

    @ Widge

    Your link doesn't work, what's the deal with Sky then?

  • jonbwfc #83 4 years ago

    'Your link doesn't work, what's the deal with Sky then?'

    Sky run GoView TV, which is the pay-to-view telly show download service for the PSP (go here). I think this is a bit of a red herring TBH - the vast majority of the programs available on GoView aren't available to view via freeview (and therefore PlayTV) anyway so there's little crossover in that regard. It obviously might be an issue that people would be happy with one or the other and not want to have both but I honestly don't think people who were likely to sub to GoView were looking at PlayTV as an alternative to that anyway. If you think about it, Sky aren't likely to allow anything they own that they think is even vaguely attractive onto freeview in any case and PlayTV is just a freeview tuner at the end of the day.

    To put it simply I don't think the two are in direct competition with each other; they actually complement quite well - use PlayTV to get people used to the idea of putting telly shows on their PSP and watching them on the train and you're actually more likely to get them then subscribing to GoView to get more content.

    This is simply Sony panicing about the idea that they could in any way be accused of encouraging copyright infringement and using a sledgehammer to crack that particular walnut. The appropriate phrase seems to be 'throwing the baby out with the bathwater'.

    Jon

  • bad09 #84 4 years ago

    @ jonbwfc

    Ah cheers. That does look interesting, dunno if I'd pay for it though I already pay Sky for TV content :)

  • m0thr4 #85 4 years ago

    Thanks Sony... feeling even more smug that I went and bought an AppleTV now.

  • bodypopper #86 4 years ago

    The trouble is jonbwfc that Sony has now nixed the transfer directly to PSP feature.
    If I was a conspiracy nut, I'd say that Sony is pushing PSP owners towards Go!View instead. The trouble with that is that a) You have to subscribe to it and b) you can't take last night's telly on the train with you unless it's been uploaded on the site.
    I'll stick with my Sky+ and Pinnacle Video Transfer instead.
    http://ww w.pinnaclesys.com/PublicSite/uk...
    Edited by 1 at 14/08/08 @ 10:28

  • Widge #87 4 years ago

    I would say that, I mean look at one of the things on sale. Mighty Boosh season 1 for £1.50 an episode.... thats £12 right there, £12 lost if you sit and record it off BBC3 at some point and move it to your PSP. (of course I've got the umd!)
    The content on TV will be ahead of the service but I don't think that will matter. You can almost see the client relationship meeting between Sky and Sony in your head... absolutely no way that Sky would let anything come into fruition that could eat into their sales and we all know how much Sky love to have your $. Obviously remote play isn't considered a threat... but as I say, unless wifi really hots up, its not that great a substitute.

    Ok, you've not in effect lost much, how many PVRs out there allow file exporting with a recognised standard format, not many I'm sure. Still it would have been a wonderful thing to have!

    Is that Bluray -> PSP transfer thing still going ahead?

  • KingOfMyCastle #88 4 years ago

    A real, real shame, mainly about the High Def for me. I don't have a HDTV yet, nor will we get HD signals until years later in Brighton. But I did want to futre proof my setup. I suppose Sony were unprepared for that DVB-T2 changeover.

    I sold my DVD Recorder and was even going to get a new aerial (currently dodgy) and a new Hard Drive to get the best out of PLAY TV.

    Now I'll go the Sky/Virgin/Freesat/Orange/BT route for a year or two I think.

  • Mattattattatt #89 4 years ago

    As noted, the biggest reason, sadly, could be so you have to buy stuff from their video store if you want to transfer it to a PSP for wifi-independent viewing. Conflicting interests with the content providers for the store might have pushed this decision.

    If ever pushed far enough to give an answer, they might wheel out copyright infringement as a reason. I'd forgotten that Sony BMG were the ones who put rootkits on their CDs :(

  • mossychops001 #90 4 years ago


    [link url=http://uk.playstation.com/games-med ia/news/articles/detail/item76297/TV-star/
    ]http://uk .playstation.com/games-media/ne...[/link]

  • RandomTerrain #91 4 years ago

    Disappointing. But as pointed out, at least I get to save £70. Always a silver lining.
    But in this case, not for Sony. Come on Sony, give us the feature, or just bin PlayTV altogether.

  • spamjavelins #92 4 years ago

    will it upscale?thats what i want to know.100 quid in argos,i can get a recordable freeview box,that upscales to 1080p.if it upscales,i'll get play.tv,but.if theres something better out there then i'll get that

  • elephant_stone #93 4 years ago

    As a lot of people have said, this was the sole reason why PlayTV was appealing in the first place...now I am not sure if I wanna get it (although im a sucker for gadgits!).

    Can someone please confirm that it will still recieve HD Freeview and its only the recording that is disabled!?

  • MKorkia #94 4 years ago

    Well, well. Maybe Kaz Hirai explains how this is now *much* better than before. You people know Sony PR...

  • jzzz #95 4 years ago

    No longer going to buy this.

  • actionfitz #96 4 years ago

    agree with Kotaku.com:
    "Sadly, it is back to tense-buttocked business as usual."

    :/

  • Obli #97 4 years ago

    Idiotic choice, Sony - I too have now lost all interest in this device. I don't have a PSP and so when my HDD is full, I don't want to have to delete stuff rather than transfer it to another storage medium. Heck, I might like to watch recorded content on other formats.

    So, no deal.

  • Burkey #98 4 years ago

    Yep, not buying that anymore.

  • ThwartedEfforts #99 4 years ago

    £70 for a PVR that doesn't do what you actually want seems pretty steep to me. And it'll lack some other obvious feature, won't work smoothly for months, will trash/shorten most of the stuff you record, and maybe even not record it in the first place.

    Gah. Sony.

  • Edy08 #100 4 years ago

    !!>
    Very reliable sources from the Leipzig game conference have been telling selected press that recorded content IS transferable outside of Play-tv in it’s full original quality without any DRM but they want this feature to stay low-key. Now that many news sites have Play-tv to review please ask them to try and export from the library. Once it's in the PS3 cross media bar you can do anything you want with it DRM free!!